Today Allison, Linnea, Mat and I took an adventure to a marine reserve on an island on the north of Dar called Mbudya. It was really exciting to set out to find this place armed only with the travel guide. After taking the daladala from Mwenge to Kundiche (against the travel guide’s advice) we rode on a bajaji to the beach. The four of us fit only when we layered up on each other’s laps, and the experience was equivalent to riding a go-kart/lawnmower. We tried to follow signs that advertised boat rides, but the road just sort of ended at this deserted beach with a couple of abandoned fishing boats. So we hopped off and commenced walking down the beach until we found this resort that called a boat over for us. The boat was this ancient speedboat that we had to wade out to, because there was no dock. Little did we know we were in for an exciting ride. Instead of going to the island, we visited fisherman so that the men driving our boat could buy fish. We had no idea why they were buying fish, but it was really cool to watch. The men take the fisherman’s bag and dump all his fish in the bottom of the boat, then sort out which they want to buy and give back the others. The fishermen are in really small boats that look like they could have been hulled out from a tree. After picking up a good haul of fish we finally arrived at the marine reserve. The island is small and there were hardly any people there. It was so quiet too! There were really cool pumice cliffs along the top edge of the beach. Lots of baobob trees as well. When we ate lunch later we found out that the fish we had brought with us that morning were used to be cooked and sold to tourists! I had no idea what kind of fish it was that I ate, but it was the best tasting fish I've ever had - caught offshore not even three hours earlier!
You can rent snorkel gear for really cheap there, so we got a couple pairs of gear. The snorkeling was fantastic! I can’t remember being anywhere with as much biodiversity as the reef here. Mat and I went out first. We saw lionfish, puffer fish and etc., sea cucumbers that were a couple of feet long, giant clams, many kinds of starfish, urchins with glowing spots on them, and Mat saw an octopus. At times the reef was so shallow that I was sucking in my stomach so as not to brush the coral! It amazes me that beneath the water there is this whole new world, so much richer than the sparse sandy islands.
Linnea and Allison went on a hike across the island that they described as “Indiana Jones style” and found tide pools filled with crabs. By late afternoon the tide started to come in, so it was impossible to hike around the lava cliffs via the beach, so we hung out at the main beach. The boat ride back was just as fun, as the driver caught some serious air on the waves. We found out on our return that you can take a daladala straight from Mwenge to Kundiche and skip the bajaji ride. Also, there are lots of boats to choose from for getting rides to the island at Kundiche. It’s a harbor where fishermen bring in their catch in the afternoon, so we saw all sorts of fish. There were even large parrotfish for sale – I didn’t know that you could eat parrotfish. People around here like to eat octopus too.
Best weekend trip yet! The travel went smoothly and the sights were great. The ocean here is incredibly beautiful, not to mention salty as well. I wonder if the
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